Untangle mess made by NSA actions

The cutting-edge technology that served Barack Obama so well in his two presidential campaigns has come back to haunt him — in terms of egregious failures in the new online federal health exchanges and possible abuses in overseas intelligence gathering. With long-overdue steps underway to iron out wrinkles in the Affordable Care Act, the president must now turn his attention to smoothing relations with foreign allies.

That will require first getting a handle on what information the National Security Agency is gathering. As new revelations continue to come to light via leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, both the agency and the administration have been put in the uncomfortable position of defending or denying various claims.

Accounts differ, for example, as to when and whether Obama knew the NSA was monitoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s private cellphone. If the president didn’t know, he certainly should have. Such surveillance puts a long and valued diplomatic relationship at risk. Obama must hold accountable those behind the decision.

The disclosure has angered Merkel — and rightly so. She and other European Union leaders are sending contingents to Washington this week to push for answers. With other allies including Brazil, South Korea, Mexico and the United Kingdom likewise questioning the extent of U.S. surveillance, Obama must move quickly to douse what could become a serious diplomatic crisis.

He must then make his case to the public. And there is a case to be made. Intelligence gathering plays a prominent role in national — and international — security efforts. Recall, it was failure to ascertain such signals in the summer of 2001 that was blamed in part for U.S. inability to prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Too, the United States is far from alone in such efforts. Indeed, international intelligence sharing has thwarted several attempted terrorist attacks, such as a plan, believed ordered by Osama bin Laden, for commando-style assaults in several European countries in 2010.

Finally, the president must make changes, as he reportedly has done by ordering an end to spying on friendly foreign leaders. As White House spokesman Jay Carney added this week, the U.S. must “make sure we are not just gathering intelligence because we can, but because we need it.”

Exactly. While Snowden’s leaks spill data absent context and completeness, the picture has been one of intelligence gathering run amok. Such work must be done thoughtfully, responsibly and defensibly.